Foster Roberts sought to put forward thinking into the minds of all who attended his presentation, “The Entrepreneurial Mindset,” on how to practice the skill of entrepreneurship by the way of thinking outside the box and being problem focused, April 25.

It was an attribute of entrepreneurs like Victoria’s Secret founder Roy Raymond, companies such as Kodak, and a central theme to the reasons he provided for success.

Southeast professor of business Roberts presented on what it means to be entrepreneurial and how to go about practicing the skill as a college student.

“My main point for any presentation that deals with entrepreneurship to people that aren’t in the entrepreneurship major or actively practicing entrepreneurship, is give them a hint of how you would begin the process so it’s not so daunting,” Roberts said.

He displayed the forward concept himself, greeting each attendee with a handshake and personal introduction as they entered before addressing his audience with some pinpointed questions.

“Why don’t we all have entrepreneurial mindsets? Why don’t we all have the ability to imagine the impossible?” he asked.

He focused on some of America’s highly successful business people and discussed what led them to their successes, such as founder of Victoria’s Secret Roy Raymond and fashion businessman Amancio Ortega.

“Amancio’s premise is built on listening to the customer and creating it,” Roberts said.

The presentation provided specific reasons behind the successes and failures - all of which seemed to revolve around the same theme: forward thinking.

Roberts said the idea of forward thinking is a person’s ability to imagine what can be, not what is.

Roberts said failure is something many entrepreneurs know all too well.

“You will never find an entrepreneur who has a business that hasn't failed in the past,” Roberts said. “It’s apart of the process.”

Another main point of the presentation was to show how a person does not have to be a business owner or entrepreneur to practice the skill. The first step in practicing entrepreneurship is recognizing problems and solving them by using the brain in ways other than what it was programed, Roberts said.

He had the attendants do a couple of activities which forced them to think outside the box. One of the activities asked the audience to complete a task with only one rule, however the human brain automatically creates rules it thinks it cannot break, according to Roberts.

“Quit living by nonexistent rules,” he said.

The business professor then explained how in order to be entrepreneurial one must break their own logic. By this he meant one must think outside of the way they have been taught.

Roberts said having an entrepreneurial mindset is easy, “the daunting part is the action.”

The ongoing lecture series allows for Southeast professors to highlight their expertise, resource sharing and research library associate Susan Welker said.

The series has been conducted for several years, and was created to connect faculty to students or the community through common interest. The monthly events occur four times a semester and are free and open to the public.

Although Roberts’ Entrepreneurship presentation is the last of the Kent Athenaeum’s this semester, the first lecture of the fall semester is already set for the last Wednesday of August.